An employee of the Academic Success Center who identifies as a Christian lesbian filed a Title VII discrimination lawsuit against Southwestern College claiming retaliation and infliction of emotional distress.
Clerical assistant Rachel Francois filed a lawsuit against SC and former coworker Norma Rich claiming work place discrimination going back to 2012.
Francois’s lawyer James Davis said that though Rich retired in June, the suit is against Rich individually as well as the college. Davis said SC is wrongly paying for her legal defense and any potential settlements.
“In this case Southwestern Community College, despite an individual lawsuit against Ms. Rich, who has had a history of problems with other people on that campus and not just my client, they are paying her legal expenses as well as paying any settlement for her,” he said. “I’m not sure how they can do that with public funds because Ms. Rachel’s suit against Ms. Rich is an individual suit, in an individual capacity, for individual actions. It is not something that should be covered by Southwestern Community College, but yet they’re paying for it, and they’ve indicated that if we make a settlement, they’ll be covering her costs, her settlement, for this.”
In the suit Francois and Davis slam the college for inappropriate behavior.
“(Southwestern College and Norma Rich) committed the outrageous acts herein alleged maliciously and oppressively, and with the wrongful intention of injuring Ms. Francois, and acted with an improper and evil motive amounting to malice or despicable conduct,” said the suit.
Davis said SC has a history of such behavior it has tried to cover up.
“Southwestern has been one of the most egregious institutes that I have ever seen,” Davis said. “Looking back at their history, the number of lawsuits, the types of lawsuits that have been filed against them and how they continue to push things under the rug to try to hide things from the public.”
Davis also said that the SC Governing Board is responsible for this history, lack of transparency and are tacitly supporting Rich’s anti-LGBTQ behavior by covering her legal expenses.
“The payment of legal fees in any settlement for anybody that’s attacking that lifestyle just shows the support of Southwestern College, and that board of governors,” Davis said. “And moreover, this has been a history. The Board of Governors has been there, and been incestual, for years. And you have seen these problems for years. It’s not that the deans or the presidents of the college are bad, they’re under that board. And the thing that has been consistent there, and has been consistently controlling, and voting on, and making these determinations are that board. I don’t know if there is anybody you could put in to run that school that would correct the situation, it has to be addressed at the top level.”
Francois said that in April 2012 she introduced Rich to her partner when they ran into each other while shopping. Following this interaction there was a noticeable change in “attitude and relationship” between Francois and Rich.
Francois said Rich began to make unwelcome comments about her sexuality and differences in religious beliefs, and that these comments would grow more brazen and frequent over time.
Rich is said to have told Francois that she was a sinner and needed to be “de-programed.” She further informed Francois that her church offered conversion therapy, according to Davis.
Conversion therapy has been banned in 18 states. It was banned in California in September 2012.
In 2013 the America Psychological Association released a statement condemning the practice.
“The American Psychiatric Association does not believe that same-sex orientation should or needs to be changed, and efforts to do so represent a significant risk of harm by subjecting individuals to forms of treatment which have not been scientifically validated and by undermining self-esteem when sexual orientation fails to change. No credible evidence exists that any mental health intervention can reliably and safely change sexual orientation; nor, from a mental health perspective does sexual orientation need to be changed.”
Matters escalated during the month when Rich allegedly “outed” Francois to the rest of her work place and would continue to do so by informing new employees of Francois’s sexuality during their workplace orientations. Francois also said the college was made aware of this discrimination and harassment, but let it continue for years without intervention.
Francois claims to have brought this continued harassment to her program supervisor, Dean of the School of Language, Literature & Humanities Dr. Joel Levine, in August 2016. Levine took no steps to correct or reprimand Rich, according to Francois.
Levine said that he was unaware of the details of the suit and is currently unable to comment because the matter is in litigation.
Francois the filed a complaint to HR on Aug. 15, 2016.
In January 2017 the college found her complaint to be unfounded. Davis said that there is plenty of evidence to the contrary and that Rich’s activities were well documented.
“Not only were they aware of it from the investigation that they denied for Rachel, but then in other investigations that were taking place about complaints in that department the issue would arise,” Davis said. “They had other statements and testimony from people that had confirmed what Rachel was saying was being done and they still chose to say ‘unsubstantiated’ which is ridiculous.”
Francois appealed the decision in Feb. 2017 and requested that the matter not be closed. She said she met with SC administration over the next few months regarding the school’s findings and her appeal. During this time Francois alleges that Director of Human Resources Marvin Castillo repeatedly tried to pressure her into mediation with Rich.
Francois said she twice requested transfers in April 2017 to escape the hostile work environment and “mental and emotional pain she was suffering” in April 2017.
Francois said she has suffered from stress and has sought mental health care due to harassment.
“There has been a lot of stress, a lot of stress at home,” Francois said in her statement. “My counseling is not done, yet I still have a lot of counseling to go through because of this.”
Francois said she was retaliated against by the college for requesting the transfers. She said Trinda Best, the Vice President of HR at the time, required her to withdraw her appeal of the college’s investigation or she would refuse her transfer request. This act would constitute a breach of California law, according to Davis.
Davis also alleges that the college retaliated again by threatening to end Francois’s wife’s health benefits until it received documents proving that the couple was still married.
“As a person being in a same sex marriage, she was required to go to the County and ask them to create a document stating she has continued to be married to her partner or they were going to pull her partner’s medical benefits,” he said. “I have never heard a person that is man and wife, married, that has been in a situation where any institution has told that man ‘you go find a document that says you’re still married after eight or ten years of marriage or we’re stopping your spouse’s benefits.’ Have you ever heard of anybody being told that they find something stating they’re not divorced? There’s no record of that. These are ridiculous things that are plainly retaliatory in nature and clearly go towards Rachel’s lifestyle.”
Francois said the potential loss of her partner’s health benefits had a serious negative impact on her.
“I was panicked,” she said. “I didn’t know the answer. I was lost. I was scared. I didn’t know how I was going to come up with the money to pay for Roda’s half of her benefits.”
During this time Rich’s harassment continued, Francois said. She said she was made aware of this by colleagues in November 2018.
“Ms. Francois was contacted by Southwestern College employees and informed that Rich was ‘gossiping’ in front student workers that Francois and gay and that was a sin,” the suit said.
Davis has alleged that the college is taking retaliatory actions against Francois.
“Currently my client has been suffering some things we feel are retaliatory in nature and harassing, and they’re continuing to create a work environment that is not friendly for her,” Davis said. “That’s something we’re going to bring forward and have to address. I can say that much about that now. Because it’s something we may use in the lawsuit as far as continued harassment and hostile environment at the work place as a result of her bringing these claims.”
Francois said her career and emotional health have been impacted by years of harassment.
“As a proximate result of Defendants discrimination against Plaintiff, Plaintiff has suffered and continues to suffer substantial losses in career opportunities, earnings, bonuses, deferred compensation, and other employment benefits, and has suffered and continues to suffer damages to her reputation, embarrassment, humiliation, and mental anguish in an amount according to proof,” read the brief.
The suit seeks compensation for damages, including loss of wages and promotional opportunities, mental and emotional distress, punitive and exemplary damages to punish and deter Southwestern College from further work place discrimination and worker retaliation, as well as attorney and legal fees.
Davis said he is confident in the evidence supporting the suit’s allegations.
“I don’t make any promises, a jury looks at every set of facts and makes a determination,” he said. “I can say that there is strong evidence to support everything we’ve alleged in the complaint, and everything we have said to you today. I feel very confident that this case will be resolved more favorable than their investigation on campus.”
Davis said Francois hopes the suit leads to a better environment for SC.
“My client likes working with students, likes the educational environment and wants to be part of a process that creates change at Southwestern Community College,” he said. “And you’ve seen this consistently with the employees there. A lot of the employees, though they may have been treated bad, and there may be some bad environment, a lot of them love the school and the students. They like working in that environment, and they want to help create a Southwestern Community College that is friendly and open to everybody, and Rachel wants to be part of that.”
Davis also expressed hopes the suit would lead to positive change on campus.
“Hopefully, we’re able to get this resolved and work with the school in creating a better environment in the future for all,” he said. “This is not the first case along these lines that I’ve dealt with. And it’s not just one area. They’ve had race issues, they’re having sex issues, they’re having sexual orientation issues, they’re sending predators to other campuses. This has to be cleaned up, and we’d like to be part of working with them to get that cleaned up.”
